the secretary having a meeting today with his russian counterpart, sergei lavrov, in paris, and that this news conference coming after that meeting. john harwood with the reaction now. and, john, this certainly has a much more diplomatic tone at least from john kerry's mouth. >> exactly. we haven't heard from sergei lavrov, the russian foreign minister, but the point you made, the relevant çmade, is t apt one. that is that secretary kerry came out of these meetings saying everyone wanted to resolve these through dialogue and we will have intensive discussions going forward. there was no indication that the united states was sensing any escalation of the situation. now is the time to try to persuade russia to take that off-ramp that u.s. officials have been trying to put in front of it, and we'll see whether that happens. but i think people have to take it as a hopeful sign that at least it's not -- does not appear from secretary kerry's statements that it's getting worse and that we're on a diplomatic track now for at least the time being. >> john harwood, thanks very much. john, t